Jack tells Sydney that Dr. Brezzel says it looks like her memories were extracted, and that she was likely a willing participant. It seemed pretty clear (to me) from the previous episode, where Sydney fought and defeated herself (her Julia-self, I am assuming), that Julia seems to want to protect Syd from these memories. We don't yet know why. If Julia is evil, as Lazarey says later, well, it doesn't seem that she'd give up her control of Syd's body without a very good incentive. There's still a lot more to learn.
When Vaughn threatens Sloane, indicating that if he betrays Sydney Vaughn will kill him, Sloane tells him not to worry: he loves her, too. (More reinforcement of this Sloane-loves-Syd thing. This just keeps getting heavier and heavier, so I really want to know what the heck they're getting at with it. What is Sydney, to Sloane? Why, after the betrayal, does he value her so much?)
We didn't see Dr. Brezzel die, so if Kya comes back in time, he may be okay.
Vaughn and Jack start producing alibi fake research for Lindsey, to cover their breakout of Syd. Lindsey as much as tells them that he doesn't believe them, and Jack punches him.
This part of the episode really bugged me. Jack rules, but while he might have guessed Lindsey's intentions to harm Sydney, I don't think he could have known how it would be carried out, or assumed that Sloane would cover in the pinch without being overseen by himself or Vaughn. So why the heck he'd take himself completely out of the loop instead of going to save her . . . I mean, really - if we are supposed to assume that Jack's figured out the double-cross, is he really going to trust Sloane over himself?
We know Jack is perfectly willing to get his hands dirty, if necessary, to save Sydney. It just makes no sense to me, save that for some reason, the writers needed to have Sloane be the one to save Syd. And even so, the Jack-Lindsey scene seemed clumsy and awkward. I would've bought it if Lindsey had just decided to temporarily "hold them for further questioning about their whereabouts" to keep them out of things while the exchange took place. They could've tried to escape, and gotten out just in time to see Lindsey fall. This bit was my biggest problem with the episode.
I'm sorry, but in that fight over Lazarey, Syd shoots Sark just about dead-on -- yet in true Alias fashion, somehow misses him completely. Not that I want Sark dead, but come on, editors/fight choreographers! If she's going to miss, at least have Sark evade or something.
Jack tells Vaughn to push Sydney away, because he's being cruel by being kind. Yay, Spydaddy! It seemed hard for Jack to say these things, but if Vaughn isn't going to fish or cut bait, I'm glad Jack's going to make him.
Syd and Will drink at her place, then end up with a friend-comfort sexual encounter. This was mercifully brief, and actually worked better than I thought it would. I mean, I personally don't see Will and Syd together, but at least they do have some chemistry. I know I'll draw boos from the S/V 'shippers . . . it's just my opinion, I know, and I even know about the off-screen involvement for a bit with Garner/Vartan . . . heck, maybe that's why, this season, Syd and Vaughn (to me) seem to have all the chemistry of a wilted piece of lettuce.
Sloane meets with the marksman Lindsey asked him to hire. The marksman makes a comment about "just when he believed the humanitarian press." Sloane makes an interesting response: he says that the marksman should know better than that. Should know better than Sloane really being changed? Should know better than to think Sloane is doing this without being pressured, because he has changed? It's open to interpretation. I don't think that was a throwaway line.
What IS Sloane's endgame? Dang that character for being so intriguing. Arvin's real motivations are of more interest to me than Rambaldi, than Syd's missing years, than the Covenant, than just about anything currently happening on the show. I swear the man seems to be holding all the cards. To borrow a TwoP phrase, "Sensei Sloane," indeed.
Sark tortures Lazarey, who reveals that he is a descendant of the Romanov family (as is Sark). Sark identifies himself as Lazarey's son, and that he works for the Covenant. Lazarey says that Julia and the Covenant are true evil, which seems to counter some theories that Julia helped Lazarey fake his death, unless she had her own motivations for doing it, or unless Lazarey is saying that to protect Julia in some way.
Alison may or may not be dead after the Will stabbing. Given what we know, and given how near Sark is (who would presumably get her to medical care when he returns to consciousness), I will be rather surprised if this is the last we see of the Francinator. Actually, given some of the restorations we've seen, I suppose we can't be 100% sure that Lindsey is really dead, either.
Where was Lauren during all this, mmmmmm? Just wondering. Not saying bad or good: just saying unaccounted-for.
More Rambaldi mystery with the tube of living human tissue in the box retrieved from Graz. And no more revelations until 2004. :/
As an aside, I didn't see the aforementioned Alice in Wonderland theme in this episode, but then, it was very fast-paced . . . I may have missed something.
